Processing-Microstructure Models for Short- and Long-Fiber Thermoplastic Composites

198 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009.Although these results are promising, the breakage models have only been applied to the mold cavity in injection molding simulation. Both a literature review and our experimental data strongly suggest that the majority of fiber length degradation occurs in the earlier stages of injection molding, in the screw nozzle, runners, and gate. A better understanding of the melting and flow conditions upstream of the mold cavity, the simulation of which is beyond the scope of this work, is needed before these breakage models can be properly applied to the entire injection molding process. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD